Experimental films, abstract and associational form are definitely things with which I am not familiar. However, this week’s reading on these helped prepare me to better interpret the films and documentaries of an experimental nature. When watching the abstract film, ‘Ballet mécanique’, which was deconstructed and explained in the reading, I was able to register associations between objects that Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy were presenting. For example, after going through the reading, I noticed how the first ‘segments’ of the film established the patterns that would be used throughout the rest of it, and could also see how Léger and Murphy played with variations of these patterns to further intrigue the viewer. An instance of this is during the segment with the text about the necklace and the 0s. Associations were presented between the digit ‘0’, the letter ‘O’, the necklace in question, and the horse collar.

Patterns could also be recognised in films like Martin Arnold’s ‘Alone: Life Wastes Andy Hardy’, which involved heavy repetition of certain scenes from an Andy Hardy film. One of the rhythmic movements that Arnold’s film quickly established involved short sections of the Andy Hardy film being played before being reversed, and then being played forward again. Much of the film’s duration was spent repeating scenes in this fashion, thus training me as a viewer to anticipate the pattern and rhythm. Furthermore, variations such as altering the duration of the clips being reversed or having other sections of the film rapidly alternating with the current one were introduced, which could act to amuse or disturb the viewer.ue